Trial and Error

Since I now have a greenhouse, I thought it would be only fair if I acutally learn how to use it. Besides, it sounded like something fun and fairly easy to do. Don't you pretty much just stick some seeds in some dirt, sprinkle on some water and let nature do the rest? I found out the hard way that there is a little more science involved. Like maybe knowing where to plant what you have grown, among other things. So here I am, learning by trial and error.



Trial:
Four O'Clocks. The picture on the Gurney's website looked cute. It says they even attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Oh, and they smell good too. What's not to like? I started the seeds in the greenhouse and the little seedlings grew very, very quickly. Somehow, though, during the seed-starting season, I lost (threw away) the seed packet and quickly forgot any and all information about what Four O'Clocks actually do. I planted a few of them in the bed by my lamp post, and the rest in some planters on the deck. They started out small and kept growing, and growing, and growing . . . which leads me to this:

Error:
When you plant four o' clocks in a planter box, beware that they grow to the size of a small tree. Better to plant them en masse in a whiskey barrel. And they need water like no other plant I've seen. I did find, as promised, that they attract hummingbirds at an amazing rate. They really are a cute plant if planted in the right setting. And they are prolific bloomers. Here's a closeup I took this morning (the blooms don't open until four o'clock).

And on a side note, here's the cute nest Sean rescued as he was cutting down the pine tree. I hate to get rid of it, but I don't know what to do with it. Any suggestions?

Watch Out Shawn Johnson & Nastia Liukin

We all enjoyed the Summer Olympics, but for Jessi it has bordered on obsession. I mean obsessed to the point where she has prayed at dinner that we will have fun watching the Olympics tonight.

Last week, when I asked her who her favorite Olympian was, she replied without hesitation: "Michael Phelps." I thought that was only natural because, well, who doesn't like Michael Phelps? And she cheered just as loudly as the rest of us each time he won the gold. But I was a little surprised by her answer because Jessi spent a lot of time watching gymnastics. I figured the girl gymnasts had the Jessi's Favorite Olympian category in the bag. After all, Michael Phelps is a boy and a swimmer. So, I thought I'd give Jessi a chance to include Shawn Johnson or Nastia Liukin in her list of favorites, and I asked who her second favorite Olympian was. Again, the reply was "Michael Phelps." Still not the answer I was looking for. I asked who her third favorite Olympian was. "Still Michael Phelps." And now she was getting a little irritated by the game, so I stopped.

Now that the Olympics are over, I beg to differ on her top three favorite Olympians. Tonight I caught her out of the corner of my eye running down the hallway and doing a roundoff complete with a gymnastics "stick-salute" and then a hearty one-handed wave and smile to the imaginary crowd in all four directions. I couldn't help but giggle a little and she caught me looking at her so she stopped. I have yet to see her swim any laps in her outdoor kiddie pool. Maybe I'll call it a tie between ALL Olympians for hers and all of our favorites because we truly enjoyed many athletes performing in many events for the past two weeks.

In the meantime, Jessi is practicing up for her debut in the next Olympics (if I forge her birth certificate), so watch out Shawn and Nastia. She has choreographed her own "beam" routine which she regularly performs on the tile in our entry way (complete with the dismount), and I've captured it here for you all to see:

I Got a Facelift!

Okay, not me. That was my blog talking. Take a look at the new and improved Defying Gravity and Dianne's Spinning Spools and you'll see what I've been doing for the past 2 and 1/2 days of my life. I decided this was a good way to deal with the whole freakishly stressful roller-coaster-coronary-inducing-house-closing adventure we've been embroiled in for the past few days. And before I go any further, let me say that yes, we closed on our old house (I think), and I'll know for sure when we receive the funds from the title company--hopefully Monday.

But in the meantime, I spent much time over the past two days fielding telephone calls with Josh our awesome Realtor, Dacei at our favorite title company, and my dear husband while he was working to earn money to provide for two sets of utility bills and two house payments, just in case we didn't actually close. After all, you never know when a hurricane will hit south Florida and virtually wipe out all the lender's information. Oh, and I also called a few of you for much-needed support :)

And all the while, I was giving myself a self-guided Internet crash course in HTML and web design. I wanted something with 3 columns and not too girly, plus I needed to keep all my widgets intact. So, after losing only a couple of widgets (that word makes me giggle) here's the almost finished project. It still needs a little tweaking, but you get the idea.

And did I mention that (I think) we closed on our house?

Mistreatement Party!

Some of you may know about The Nester and if you do, you understand my fascination. I love her decorating style, and having recently moved, I need a decorating intervention of some sort. Anyway, The Nester has given me all sorts of inspiration, and the shower door was my first step.

For anyone not familiar with The Nester's vocabulary, here's the quick version I copied from her blog:

Mistreatment: (n). covering for a window that is quick, cheap and pretty. may or may not need hardware does not require sewing. a real designer's worst nightmare.

Mistreating: (v). the act of treating a window with dignity and respect without use of the following: hundreds of dollars, sewing, time, crying, divorce, child neglect...

That being said, I mistreated the shower door in the basement of the Pink Bathroom. The ingredients I used for this project are: 2 yards of fabric and velcro.

You may have read in the above definition that Mistreating doesn't involve sewing, but in this case, I had no choice as it involved attaching fabric to metal. So, here's how I did it: Sticky velcro on metal door, sew-on velcro along top of fabric, voila! Total cost: about $10.00.

Here's the before and after:
There. Now maybe that pink toilet, sink, and tile won't stand out quite so much! My son is thanking me already. The rest of the bathroom is still a work in progress, so I'll post pictures of the entire project when it is finished.

And here's the kitchen done with unhemmed, (yes, gasp, UNHEMMED) fabric and upohlstery tacks!

And here's the dining room/family room before and after:

Change of View!!!